Dancin_In_Anson:Bukharin: Is there a better way to send a sheet of paper cross country for 40-something cents?

No, but there are ways that are profitable and don't require massive government subsidy.

Someone once put it like this to me: If you privatized the mail completely, chances are large areas of the country would not be able to get any mail what so ever. Because there is not enough demand in some place for a company to send mail there and be profitable, hence if it was a private company the solution would be simple:don't send mail there. So, yes, the post office does lose money, but the trade off is that you have a wider availability of service than you would with a private carrier.

Well that's okay. In our spectacular free market, we can just buy our gas from somewhere else that sells it cheaper! Surely you don't think that there's some sort of effective monopoly on oil, do you? Then we wouldn't have a free market! Why don't you ever THINK about this stuff?!

I remember last fall some blow hard on the news (can't remember the station) was going on about how the low prices of gas were bad for the economy. I'm also remembering how the same blowhard was saying a few months prior how high gases prices were bad for the economy. WTF.

Shadowknight:Dancin_In_Anson: If you like the postal service, you'll love nationalized oil.

I know. I hate such efficiency that they can get insane amount of personal and mass mail delivered with nearly 100% efficiency and within the promised time limit six times a week.

You can argue that they could easily go down to four times a week, but if you want to argue government inefficiency the post office really isn't where to look for it. For all the jokes about the post office and it's laziness, they really do an amazing job for the amount of post they need to move every freaking day.

It's not his fault. He's just making the typical, cliche, anti-government argument.

Like people who argue against a national health care system by comparing it to the DMV. You know, I've been a licensed driver since 1996. I think I've only had to go an actual office two or three times. I went once to get my temporary license and another time to take my test and get my real license.

Then I moved to another state in 2003 and had to physically go to an office to get my picture taken for my new license. Other than that, everything has been through the mail or over the Internet.

stryker4526:TheStag: I'm sure oil trading for over $60/barrel doesn't have anything to do with it. What does this guy think, because his name is Tex everyone will think he knows what he's talking about?

Roughly 8% of the oil price goes to refiners, 12% goes to the government and 70%+ is dictated by the commodities market.

Oh god, not SIXTY dollars per barrel! Obviously we must change prices to match prices from when it was $140/bbl! Oh wait... that's not right...

TheStag:stryker4526: TheStag: I'm sure oil trading for over $60/barrel doesn't have anything to do with it. What does this guy think, because his name is Tex everyone will think he knows what he's talking about?

Roughly 8% of the oil price goes to refiners, 12% goes to the government and 70%+ is dictated by the commodities market.

Oh god, not SIXTY dollars per barrel! Obviously we must change prices to match prices from when it was $140/bbl! Oh wait... that's not right...

$2 != $4.50

What was that WHOOOOSH sound I just heard?Oh, it was the point of my post going right over your head. He implied that $60/bbl was expensive for oil, and the reason prices are going up. I countered sarcastically, the point being that when oil was over TWICE the price it is now, gas cost half as much.I know sarcasm is a complicated thing, but do try to keep up.

Headso:Dancin_In_Anson: lajimi: I don't much care for $4.00+ a gallon gas and these greedy bastiges jumping the price whenever they feel like it.

Then don't buy it.

yeah and don't buy any food or goods where oil was used in the production or shipping. problem solved the "conservative" way.

ok - well, start hangin execs and prospectors from trees.

CowboyNinjaD:Shadowknight: Dancin_In_Anson: If you like the postal service, you'll love nationalized oil.

I know. I hate such efficiency that they can get insane amount of personal and mass mail delivered with nearly 100% efficiency and within the promised time limit six times a week.

You can argue that they could easily go down to four times a week, but if you want to argue government inefficiency the post office really isn't where to look for it. For all the jokes about the post office and it's laziness, they really do an amazing job for the amount of post they need to move every freaking day.

It's not his fault. He's just making the typical, cliche, anti-government argument.

Like people who argue against a national health care system by comparing it to the DMV. You know, I've been a licensed driver since 1996. I think I've only had to go an actual office two or three times. I went once to get my temporary license and another time to take my test and get my real license.

Then I moved to another state in 2003 and had to physically go to an office to get my picture taken for my new license. Other than that, everything has been through the mail or over the Internet.

So, the key to lower gas prices is to use less and curb demand, because prices go up when demand is high and supply is low. At the same time we need to use more because prices go up when demand is low and supply is high. So if demand goes up 20% and down 20% at the same time and supplies stay high, gas prices should drop because demand is up and supply is up and demand is down and supply is up, right? Am I doing it right? I don't get this new math.

Why isn't oil regulated like natural gas? As a utility company, a gas company's rates can only charge enough to make a 'reasonable profit.' The state Public Utilities Commission determines these rates.While gasoline is not provided as a utility to your home, I think a fossil fuel that the majority of the population consumes on a normal day would qualify as one.

stryker4526:TheStag: stryker4526: TheStag: I'm sure oil trading for over $60/barrel doesn't have anything to do with it. What does this guy think, because his name is Tex everyone will think he knows what he's talking about?

Roughly 8% of the oil price goes to refiners, 12% goes to the government and 70%+ is dictated by the commodities market.

Oh god, not SIXTY dollars per barrel! Obviously we must change prices to match prices from when it was $140/bbl! Oh wait... that's not right...

$2 != $4.50

What was that WHOOOOSH sound I just heard?Oh, it was the point of my post going right over your head. He implied that $60/bbl was expensive for oil, and the reason prices are going up. I countered sarcastically, the point being that when oil was over TWICE the price it is now, gas cost half as much.I know sarcasm is a complicated thing, but do try to keep up.

I guess that one went over my head too. When was oil at $120/bbl (60 x 2) and gas at $1.00/gallon (2 x 1/2)?

Shadowknight:Dancin_In_Anson: If you like the postal service, you'll love nationalized oil.

I know. I hate such efficiency that they can get insane amount of personal and mass mail delivered with nearly 100% efficiency and within the promised time limit six times a week.

You can argue that they could easily go down to four times a week, but if you want to argue government inefficiency the post office really isn't where to look for it. For all the jokes about the post office and it's laziness, they really do an amazing job for the amount of post they need to move every freaking day.

stinky_pete:To say nothing of the out-of-whack oil to gas relationship. When oil was $140/barrel, gas was $4.10/gallon, yet when oil is less than half that price ($70/barrel) gas is more than half price ($2.25/gal).

Not that I'm a proponent for the refineries by any means, but the above is explained by the fact that there are costs of the refining process that don't fluctuate with the cost of goods. This is true of any manufacturing process.

I'm just happy to see that the journalist in TFA actually, you know, questioned the major holes in this guy's logic, instead of just passing it on like gospel truth.

The oil industry is trying the market again, and seeing if we'll tolerate another period of dropping off our driving habits. It is certainly nice of them to swing their dicks around to shake up the oh-so-stable economy. Let's raise the price of everything during a major recession YAYAYAYAY!

mod3072:So, the key to lower gas prices is to use less and curb demand, because prices go up when demand is high and supply is low. At the same time we need to use more because prices go up when demand is low and supply is high. So if demand goes up 20% and down 20% at the same time and supplies stay high, gas prices should drop because demand is up and supply is up and demand is down and supply is up, right? Am I doing it right? I don't get this new math.

Stop. Just stop... think too hard about this and you're bound to kick your dog out of frustration.

CowboyNinjaD:It's not his fault. He's just making the typical, cliche, anti-government argument.

Like people who argue against a national health care system by comparing it to the DMV. You know, I've been a licensed driver since 1996. I think I've only had to go an actual office two or three times. I went once to get my temporary license and another time to take my test and get my real license.

Then I moved to another state in 2003 and had to physically go to an office to get my picture taken for my new license. Other than that, everything has been through the mail or over the Internet.

So yeah, the DMV, a true model of inefficiency.

The DMV here in Virginia can be pretty atrocious, but I think it has more to do with the workers than the government involvement. They seem to hate the fact that their entire job is set up around giving everyone a hard time, pushing paperwork, and taking bad pictures while people blink.

But as you said, I can do almost everything online these days, once you're in the system, so it's not that painful anymore.

TheStag:stryker4526: TheStag: stryker4526: TheStag: I'm sure oil trading for over $60/barrel doesn't have anything to do with it. What does this guy think, because his name is Tex everyone will think he knows what he's talking about?

Roughly 8% of the oil price goes to refiners, 12% goes to the government and 70%+ is dictated by the commodities market.

Oh god, not SIXTY dollars per barrel! Obviously we must change prices to match prices from when it was $140/bbl! Oh wait... that's not right...

$2 != $4.50

What was that WHOOOOSH sound I just heard?Oh, it was the point of my post going right over your head. He implied that $60/bbl was expensive for oil, and the reason prices are going up. I countered sarcastically, the point being that when oil was over TWICE the price it is now, gas cost half as much.I know sarcasm is a complicated thing, but do try to keep up.

I guess that one went over my head too. When was oil at $120/bbl (60 x 2) and gas at $1.00/gallon (2 x 1/2)?

Sorry, I meant half of the $4/gal they're going to raise it to again this summer.

In about 2008 (hard to tell from the graph... scale isn't so hot.)Average gas in MI right around Summer '08 was around $1.50-1.90 or so per gallon.So... there you go.

ihatedumbpeople:Saw a different article claiming it was because supply was down, which contradicted an article I read a few weeks back stating oil companies had barges full of the stuff waiting to go but demand wasn't there yet.

No point in producing if there is no customer. They leave it in the ground until they need it. Most companies aren't even drilling this year. No point. They're waiting for the price to climb again, and cutting costs instead.

Actually, prices went DOWN in 2008 starting in the summer and ending around the election time. This also happened in the months preceding the 2004 election. Not a coincidence. And yes, they were most definitely going to go up afterward (and they did).

lajimi:Dancin_In_Anson: lajimi: Maybe it's time to nationalize the oil industry.

If you like the postal service, you'll love nationalized oil.

I don't much care for $4.00+ a gallon gas and these greedy bastiges jumping the price whenever they feel like it.

so you rather subsidize government oil by having the government steal the 4 dollars from your paycheck and spend it poorly then also pay 2 dollars at the pump. yes.. that is a brilliant scheme to have your money stolen from you. genius!